I'm sorry if this has been covered, but I could't find any examples of it
I'm looking at building a full HERMS for use at a new house we are building. But it will be a year or so before the construction will be finished and I want to step up my game at my current place. I have to continue using propane for the time being. I have 2 pumps, one burner, a 10 gallon HLT, a 10 gallon cooler MT, and a Keg BK. I am trying to build some automation into my current setup. What I want to do is use my 50' immersion chiller as a herms coil. I would put it in my MLT after I have doughed in and use pump 2 to recirculate hot water from the HLT whenever the mash temperature drops too low. I will be using pump 1 to recirculate the mash continually during the entire rest. I plan on having a PID control my mash temp by simply turning on/off pump 2 (which is recirculating hot water from the HLT). This seems like it would work well to me. Because I am recirculating the mash the coil shouldn't make hot spots in my grain bed, at least not very much. The probe from the PID will read the temperature at the recirc arm. After the mash I will rinse off my immersion chiller and stick it in the boil kettle like normal so I can chill at the end of the boil. This was the only way I could figure out to recirc my mash the entire time and automate the temp control. If I put the coil in the HLT I have to stand there and adjust the temp of the HLT water with my gas burner. If I put it in my MLT temp control can be made automatic very easily.
Am I missing something or is this a sound idea? The only problem I can see is more cleanup since I will have a grainy immersion chiller, but that's a minor problem. I have seen this idea poopoo'd when no second pump is employed to recirc the mash as well as the HERMS coil, which I understand.
Hopefully I will finish my full electric HERMS build by the time we move into the new place, but for now I wanted to make the best use of what I already have and only buy parts I could reuse on the HERMS, like the PID controllers.
Thanks for your input!
I'm looking at building a full HERMS for use at a new house we are building. But it will be a year or so before the construction will be finished and I want to step up my game at my current place. I have to continue using propane for the time being. I have 2 pumps, one burner, a 10 gallon HLT, a 10 gallon cooler MT, and a Keg BK. I am trying to build some automation into my current setup. What I want to do is use my 50' immersion chiller as a herms coil. I would put it in my MLT after I have doughed in and use pump 2 to recirculate hot water from the HLT whenever the mash temperature drops too low. I will be using pump 1 to recirculate the mash continually during the entire rest. I plan on having a PID control my mash temp by simply turning on/off pump 2 (which is recirculating hot water from the HLT). This seems like it would work well to me. Because I am recirculating the mash the coil shouldn't make hot spots in my grain bed, at least not very much. The probe from the PID will read the temperature at the recirc arm. After the mash I will rinse off my immersion chiller and stick it in the boil kettle like normal so I can chill at the end of the boil. This was the only way I could figure out to recirc my mash the entire time and automate the temp control. If I put the coil in the HLT I have to stand there and adjust the temp of the HLT water with my gas burner. If I put it in my MLT temp control can be made automatic very easily.
Am I missing something or is this a sound idea? The only problem I can see is more cleanup since I will have a grainy immersion chiller, but that's a minor problem. I have seen this idea poopoo'd when no second pump is employed to recirc the mash as well as the HERMS coil, which I understand.
Hopefully I will finish my full electric HERMS build by the time we move into the new place, but for now I wanted to make the best use of what I already have and only buy parts I could reuse on the HERMS, like the PID controllers.
Thanks for your input!